Just last week I had a post about Don McLean’s ‘American Pie’ and commented that at 8 minutes and 42 seconds it was the longest #1 song to ever top the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Charts. As of a couple days- there is a new record- Taylor Swift’s ‘All Too Well’ has hit the #1 spot- and it clocks in at 10 minutes 13 seconds. ‘American Pie’ nearly made it to the 50 year mark holding the record- it hit #1 in January 1972.
When asked to comment- McLean said “Let’s face it, nobody ever wants to lose that No. 1 spot, but if I had to lose it to somebody, I sure am glad it was to another great singer/songwriter.” Records are made to be broken- I have read some ‘get off of my lawn’ type comments from people considering the record falling- knocking Taylor Swift as an artist. I must disagree- I think she’s great.
slicethelife 
Do you think that she wrote the song with the idea of breaking the record in mind?
I hadn’t thought of that– the original version of the song released in 2012 was 5:29– she has re recorded the album- don’t know why the redo added 5 minutes in length. Maybe she was thinking a new record?
That may have something to do with her re-recording most of her catalog due to the fight she had with the record company.
American Pie Don must be losing it in his old age. ” Lose the record as longest song to a great songwriter?” But, come on, Don, she is mediocre at best as a performer and writes about her wrong choice in men, all on a 12-year-old level. Geez.
Well, her bad choices give her a lot of material to sing about…just sayin’…
What I’m most pleased about is that she has ditched the pop writers and that schtick, and gone back to her own words and style. I hope it’s permanent. The pop stuff showed she could achieve super star fame and status, but this shows off what she can deliver with her unique singer-songwriter talents, imo.
to make it long term- she needed to evolve. those two albums last year showed amazing growth IMO.
She ends up as a punching bag for people who disdain modern pop music, just because she’s the most famous pop star (even though she was only pop for some of her career).
I totally agree.